Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 621

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1876

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
3994	29 February 1876	William Sydney State Bridget Theresa Ryan	William Sydney Staite Bridget Theresa Ryan 💍 1876/3234	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	33 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 1 week	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Christchurch	76/480	John McWilliam, Father	29 February 1876	Rev. J.P. Chaurpe
3995	1 March 1876	Charles Augustus Williams Eddy Curtis	Charles Augustus Williams Eddy Curtis 💍 1876/409	Widower Spinster	Steward Servant	30 30	Lyttelton Christchurch	3 days 1 Month	In the [illegible], Riccarton	76/464		1 March 1876	Rev. F. C. Hare
3996	3 March 1876	Charles Wray Grace Buckingham	Charles Wragg Grace Buckingham 💍 1876/393	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Servant	34 29	Avonside Papanui	9 months 7 months	In the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Christchurch	76/471		3 March 1876	Rev. R.S. Westbrooke
3997	3 March 1876	James Kennard Lucy Grace McWilliam	James Kennard Lucy McWilliam 💍 1876/116	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 20	St. Albans Springfield Road	7 Years 5 years	Chapel, Christchurch	76/429		3 March 1876	Rev. S.W. Stack
3998	4 March 1876	Francis Simmons Elizabeth M. Wilson	Francis Simmons Elizabeth McIlroy 💍 1876/3271	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Dealer	27 22	Springston Springston	5 years 5 Years	In the house, [illegible]	76/1543		4 March 1876	Rev. F. Hare
3999	6 March 1876	George Warren Lucy Elizabeth Westbrooke	George Warren Lucy Elizabeth Westbrooke 💍 1876/394	Widower Spinster	Farmer	31 24	Prebbleton Christchurch	8 years 5 weeks	In the Primitive Methodist Chapel	76/442		6 March 1876	Rev. R.S. Westbrooke
4000	7 March 1876	Robert Young Alice Hill	Robert Young Alice Hill 💍 1876/397	Bachelor Spinster	Brickburner Servant	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 3 weeks	In [illegible], Avonside	76/445		7 March 1876	Rev. H. Glasson
4001	9 March 1876	William Archibald Howison Elizabeth Morrison	William Archibald Howison Elizabeth Morrison 💍 1876/3272	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Cook	21 21	Christchurch Riccarton	4 days 3 months	In the house of Rev C Fraser Luau Street	76/1544		9 March 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4002	9 March 1876	Thomas Richards Susan Rich	Thomas Richards Susan Rich 💍 1876/2529	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Servant	24 19	Hillsborough Waltham	2 years 6 months	In the house, Durham Street	[illegible]	Catherine Rich, mother	9 March 1876	Rev. S. Macfarlane
4003	11 March 1876	Henry Tyler Sarah Ann Monk	Henry Tyler Sarah Ann Monk 💍 1876/3273	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	27 21	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 2 years	In the house, [illegible]	76/1545		11 March 1876	Rev. C. Fraser
4004	13 March 1876	Thomas Dixon Sarah Elizabeth Stick	Thomas Dixon Sarah Elizabeth Hill 💍 1876/411	Widower Widow	Butcher	45 29	Christchurch Christchurch	12 years 3 years	In the house, Durham Street	76/466		13 March 1876	Rev. R. Morton

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).